That was last night in North FL. It just started to clean up last night when the winds shifted a little to the NW. Today has cleaned up even more and it's sic. I'm outta here shortly - my 5'11" is gonna feel like a potato chip. This next one was taken about 30 minutes ago in St. Auggie...

Yea I'm really getting annoyed by how the media's blowing this storm out of proportion. It's on all the newscasts - how previous hurricanes hitting Toronto have affected the area, what to worry about, all that crap. We're supposed to get 3-6 cm of rain (less than 3 inches). Sounds like a rainstorm with a bit of wind. My friends' high school got cancelled because of it. People are idiots...

There were some bombs rollin thru last night. Some of the drops were sketchy on my little 5'11". Damn if I didn't have some great rides though - aaaawwwww yeah.

Bradey, the waves dropped big time last night - always happens when the storm races north. By the time you come down we could have something to ride, but not like you see above - that little bit of surfing utopia only comes our way about once a season.

23 people dead, at least a million without power, flooding from the Carolinas to Washington DC, and a billion dollars in damages. And all of this damage from a category 2 storm, so imagine what it would have done if it had stayed a category 5 storm. And you think the media blew it out of proportion?

I believe only those on the east coast can judge whether or not the media blew it out of proportion. I believe these were people live on the east coast and even in North Carolina. We in CA should not judge, especially when our weather men consider drizzle from a marine layer to be a storm. Most of these people have lived through hurricanes before, so they probably know what they are talking about when they damn the media.

BillJ - I was only speaking for my area - Ontario Canada.... I was simply stating that the media blew it out of proportion for the effects that it would have here. I was by no means saying that it would do no damage to the east-coast. I was just getting annoyed that the media was making it seem as if the hurricane was going to cause mass destruction here, which it most certainly did not.

As far as that pic - it looks pretty cool but I'd have to say it's a fake... somehow I don't think a hurricane looks like that from the side.... then again, maybe I'm wrong...

Josh, it was actually Hunt that said the media was blowing it out of proportion. I went to Florida shortly after Andrew hit with it's 200mph winds - I saw the devastation first hand. The media was not blowing it out of proportion considering the damage that a cat 5 storm can do. The east coast is fortunate that the winds had dropped to 100mph when it came on shore, and that the eye was centered over basically empty barrier islands and not a big city.

Well I live about two hours inland from Wilmington NC, and the local news here as well as many of the locals did blow this out of proportion. We have had summer T-storms that were more intense than what Isabel gave us. Now there were some areas closer to the coast that did receive a good bit of flooding, and my heart goes out to all those affected. As for the surf, well a couple days before and after, were spectacular! I was in my office working, but my friend has a beach house, and he called in sick to take advantage of the size that had came our way.

Well, the media did and didn't blow it out of proportion. On the one hand, the wind and rain weren't really that bad. However, we have had a TON of rain this year and the ground was saturated. The end result was trees down EVERYWHERE and almost everyone in my area lost power. Mine might be out for as much as two weeks. I can't begin to explain all of the trees that are laying on houses and power lines.

Again, if the ground were not saturated there would have been very little damage.

Dang, I couldn't imagine a week w/o power, much less two weeks. I hope they get it hooked back up soon Dave and more importantly - I hope the vessel is OK ;->

We do get de-sensitized to these sort of events being in Florida, but I can see that since it occurs less frequently in some areas how the media would emphasize the importance of preparing for the worst. It beats the alternative. If they down played the storm and it came in stronger than anticipated people would be upset. The media blows a lot out of proportion, but in the case of an event like a hurricane it might not be such a bad thing.

It may have appeared to have been blown out of proportion, but if they didn't hype these storms up, and it stayed a Cat5, a lot worse propably would have happened.

I have to give Melissa huge credit here...unless you have spent more than 5 years on the east coast (avg time it take to incur the many facets of weather we get), from Hilton Head, NC north, take a back burner to understanding East Coast weather. I have lived outisde of NYC for 28 years, and every year I am shocked by the changes and the lack of consistency.

Last winter we had sub-zero temps for 3 weeks straight! Yes below 32degrees for 3 weeks. 40 degrees after that was actually warm. This was new to me, and I also experienced my 2nd blizzard in Feb (again shutting down NYC for 1 full work day as did the 1996 blizzard).

1998 was the last year NJ was hit by a Hurricane/Tropical Storm. Floyd was a NASTY storm. In the NE section of NJ, there was enough rain in such a short period of time, that 2 dams on the same river broke spilling billions of galons of water, creating a flood zone 40 miles long and 10 miles wide! Why I mention this was that the media locally out of NYC played it down to a rain event. The dams broke and all H-e-l-l broke loose. It literally seperated Bergen county into two sections, catching those in the flood area totally off guard. I know this as well first hand as i helped pluck 16 ppl from the water which was a wonderful 48-55 degrees. I was sick for two weeks after this due to the debris and "other" items that were turned up in the flood waters. We were not prepared for this type of thing, and a simple "rain" event would not have brought 9" of rain in 3-4 hours.

hype is sometimes not really needed, but in regards to these storms, I have no problem making sure I have all the suplies I need, and have a backup plan should anything go wrong.

Pic: That pic looks like a Thunderhead over the ocean. hurricanes circulate counter-clockwise (Hurricanes are VERY well formed Low pressure systems) throwing wind and wave action in all directions. I also wouldn't think the shipping company would allow a boat to get that close to a hurricane for fear of it turning in their dierction.

So this is a little bit of the skinny on NE weather. Hard to imagine if you have not lived thru a bunch of it and seen it first hand.

Boat is ok. I did watch the trees above just about reach their breaking point. I did have the insurer's number on hand!

Seems right Kevin. I was in the NJ blizzard in Feb. also. The big problem here right now (not considering the power outages) is that the water is (or possibly could be) contaminated. All of the wastewater treatment plants backed up and mixed wastewater with fresh drinking water. It is rather strange to go to a restaraunt and not be able to order a drink (except beer, hehe).

Ask the guy down the river(right off the chesapeake bay) with the flooded, badly damaged X-30 how blown out of proportion the storm was. I live on the Chesapeake Bay, about a mile down the south river facing out into the bay on the water. My MC was in the driveway, out of harms way. Our 13' Boston Whaler was on its bulkhead lift, we would have pulled it out but we didn't have a trailer. Either way our house is 100 ft from the bulkhead with a normal 5 foot drop to the water. By 2 AM Friday morning the storm surge was 6-8 feet above normal, with 3-5 foot waves smashing against the side of our house. Our Boston Whaler was taken off its lift, smashed up against the bulkhead, breaking the engine off and capsizing the boat, it is a total loss. Our neighbors home has approximately $500,000 of water damage due to the first floor being level with their yard, in addition to their 18 ft Boston Whaler now sitting between our homes smashed to bits. Our house has a crawlspace which flooded but luckily water did not get up to the 1st floor. As for the 30-40 boats in the marina down the street, all but 3 had major fiberglass damage due to crashing down on pilings and lines breaking (the marina was inaccessible during the storm, no pilings were even visible the water was so high, there were only boats with lines going down into the water). 6 Boats sank outright, and about 15 were resting sideways on lifts, in backyards, in peoples pools, etc. Pretty much every boat on a lift was damaged, more so than those which were left floating and tied up well. The problem is that people thought the lifts would keep their boats our of the water, the problem being that lifts only raise boats out of the water 5 feet or so, so with an 8 ft storm surge + waves all the boats do is lift up off the lift, and if they are tied up they proceed to slam down on the lift, eventually breaking the bunks and hitting the metal, i saw several boats sunk next to their lifts due to this.

We've been without power since thursday, and they say we might not have it for a while, i forgot my digital camera at home but when i get it back i'll give you some pictures.

Well, in my opinion, anyone who doesn't pull their boat (the X-30) out of the water when a hurricane is coming deserves to lose it. I understand with your Boston Whaler b/c you don't have a trailer, but come on, an X-30?

I'll be down there (city of VA Beach) tomorrow night to help with the recovery efforts for the next 2 months. I'm sure I will see some spectacular things.}

I talked to the guy with the X-30, he didn't get a trailer with the boat, which i don't understand because you can't leave it on the lift all winter (at least if you want it to stay nice), so he didn't really have a choice. He would have done better to just get a massive anchor and some chain and leave it in a cove down there, anywhere but on the lift.

Yeah, get some pics and show folks what can happen with "little" Cat 2.

Kevin, how can you tell which direction the storm is moving from that pic? I've seen plenty of T-storms on the open ocean and I can tell you that this isn't a typical T-storm. The more I think about it the ship could be on the backside. Swells are only heavy in front of a cane and the ship could be cruizing behind it knowing full well that the path will be generally to the West North West. Looks like an oil tanker.

David D, I am not about to go into my weather knowledge here, but that very much appears to be a T-storm, not a hurricane of any signifigance. What is the source of the pic? That may help determine things. The thing about a hurricane is that it reaks havoc in all directions. hurricanes in Japan are felt in Hawaii all the time, and that is 1000's of miles away. The "frontside" i think your referring to is the "strom surge" which tends to push water up on to the land when the storm makes landfall.

No need to get smart Kevin. I am familair with hurricanes enough to make an educated assessment and your wrong about HURRICANES wreaking havoc in all directions - if you knew about how the swell from a hurricane worked you might know that on the backside of a storm that is MOVING that there is very little swell generated in the opposite direction. How bout we agree to disagree.

Dave, NJ Blizzard in Feb. Right. Define blizzard. Try moving to a great lake state that gets lake effect snow. Blizzard will get a whole new meaning. NJ had a decent snow storm not a blizzard. Sorry for the tangent.

rootc, yeah, you are right. I didn't really classify it as a blizzard. I thought it was kind of funny actually. But NJ doesn't get much snow. Plus, try staying in a hotel room when all of the restaraunts and stores are closed. That will make a couple feet of snow seem like a blizzard . I was actually the only person to show up at the office that morning (not bad coming from a southerner, huh?)

Oh yeah, no offense, but I don't think I will be moving to a great lake state any time soon. I HATE snow!

We pumped part of it out of the basement on friday with one of my boats ballast pumps with a 50 ft lamp cord spliced into the wire so we could run it to the tahoe in the front yard (there is still no electric there). Then on saturday my uncle brought a big simer sump pump and a generator over and we pumped the rest out. It was over 25000 gallons of water in there. All we have to do now is make sure its well ventilated and air is moving so we don't get mildew. Things are getting back to normal up there, we need to get the little boat taken away after the insurance company declares it totaled and then get some leland cyprus trees either reinforced straight so they can reroot or cut down.

Tom, When there's a will, there's a way! Hope you can save the trees. It's tough to replace those and they don't grow quick.

Kevin, Man, I thought you were getting smart with the Weather.com comment. Obviously you know what sites to visit for info and The Weather Channel isn't one of them. Wasn't trying to be an a$$, but I've been tracking Atlantic hurri swells for over 10 years and had to disagree. We can disagree on these forums by keeping it respectable. I'll be the first to say I'm sorry if I did not.